£30,000 million will be closer to the true cost to find out who who can row, throw, run or swim the fastest ?..Really what planet do we live on that can justify spending £30 billion on whose better,stronger faster or more skillful...The Olympic games should stay in its mother country Greece..where it would cost the Olympic Movement little more than a air ticket for its participants.... Quiet simply we cannot afford it.... and to be honest in this modern age with all its austerity measures.. keeping your job (that's if you have one ?) and providing for your family comes first....the building of facilities( for what is in essence little more than a ancient tribal ritual) throughout the worlds cities really is no longer.of importance because... *who cares that you can jump higher than i can*. MJC

Whenever I see the banners in the streets I do feel a sense of pride that London's about to host the games. From what I do remember of A level economics, it is possible to put a monetary value to this.

I watched the torch in Slough and I do live quite close to the cycling route. This is my one chance to see it with my own eyes rather than on TV.

Games have become the games for politicians.
They award contracts, have photo ops and get time off from the criticism as the press and people get a distraction.

Today, except for a few countries, the world spends more on infrastructure (that lasts a few years) than on athletes. This should change, Olympics, should be held in existing venues, even if they are spread over many cities, and the athletes should be the one making the most of money.

For example, if some of the venues were is smaller places outside London, then those places would have benefited a lot more over the long term and got a place on the tourism map.

"more embarrassingly, the army has had to step in to provide security"
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Embarrassingly? Hardly.
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FOR ONCE, the Army is doing something USEFUL for the British people.
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As a contrast to their usual role of always being sent overseas by grandstanding politicians to interfere in other countries' affairs / kill their people - actions of neither use nor interest to (almost all) Britons stuck with paying the bill for them. And actions which make the UK hated. Result: Britain is one of the few countries forced to live at risk from aggrieved "terrorists".
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Many countries use army personnel successfully to man borders/airports - I say replace the UK's inept Border Agency jobs-worths with higher numbers of Forces personnel - start with those in non-jobs sailing desks at the admiralty and flying desks at the air ministry.

Last year, my business trip to London took place at the end of July, but this year we are deferring at least until late September because of the Olympics. It would be interesting to see how much London changed in between...